As coast erodes, names wiped off the map

Boaters pass through broken marsh in Leeville Wednesday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is remapping the coast retiring the names of lakes and bays that have been wiped out due to erosion.

Published: Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 6:53 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 6:53 p.m.

For decades, south Louisiana residents have watched coastal landmarks disappear as erosion worsened and the Gulf of Mexico marched steadily inward.

Now federal officials are wiping the names of these vanished places off the map.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Coast Survey began remapping coastlines in south Louisiana in 2011 but have found many of the lakes, bays, bayous and passes that once existed no longer have the defining features to stay on the map.

“It shows the sheer travesty of the situation we're facing in coastal Louisiana,” said Lafourche Parish Administrator Archie Chaisson. “These places, their entire identity, are being wiped off the map.”

The office remapped coastlines in Plaquemines Parish and will remove 31 place names from the map, including Grand Bayou Carrion Crow, Fleur Pond and Yellow Cotton Bay. They will remain in historic archives but will no longer be used in current maps.

The remapping process will continue along the coast for the next few years.

Meredith Westington, chief geographer with NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, said she's never seen this level of change before in her eight years working in the office.

“In the course of changing the shoreline, we found a lot of place names that were no longer attached to any features,” she said.

In some cases, for example, they found that pieces of land that had once separated lakes or bays had disappeared, leaving them indistinguishable.

“It's pretty substantial,” she said. “This is 31 names, and there are more coming.”

The erosion causing this massive disappearing act is from subsidence, or the sinking of land, and salt water intrusion. When the Mississippi River was leveed in to prevent flooding, it also cut communities such as Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes off from the rich river sediment and fresh water that built and sustained land for decades.

Disappearing places aren't anything new to residents of lower Terrebonne and Lafourche, said Terrebonne Coastal Restoration Director Nic Matherne. But he's hopeful such a dramatic step could raise awareness of the problem of coastal erosion for residents elsewhere in Louisiana and around the country.

“A resident of Pointe-aux-Chenes or Dularge walks out of his house and is hit in the face with this issue every day because they see it. It's much harder for people who don't live in the bayou communities to understand the emergency we're facing,” he said.

And these areas that are gone now are likely not coming back. The state has drafted a 50-year, $50 billion master plan to address coastal restoration and protection that is aiming for no net loss of wetlands in the next 50 years. If the plan works, Louisiana would see more land gained than lost by 2042. But that goal spans the entire coast, and Terrebonne and Lafourche officials have been concerned about the lack of restoration options available locally in the plan.

The state has stressed that hard choices are necessary to save the coast, and there's not enough time or money to save everyone.

Terrebonne and Lafourche face the highest rates of erosion in the state but are also the farthest away from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers, and river diversions make up a large portion of the state's strategy to restore the coast.

Matherne said state officials have said it is difficult to develop restoration projects with long-term sustainability in Terrebonne and Lafourche, one of the necessary features a project must have to be included in the master plan.

Local officials are working on smaller projects to divert more river water into the area in hopes of reversing that viewpoint. One goal of the state master plan is to direct more Atchafalaya River flow into the area to help better nuture and sustain wetlands.

“We're building Morganza (the parish-wide levee system), but that is not a system of last resort. We want and we need an estuary,” Matherne said.

Windell Curole, executive director of the South Lafourche Levee District, whose family has lived for generations on Bayou Lafourche, said erosion will claim more than water bodies if unchecked.

Entire communities in south Lafourche, such as Cheniere Caminada, have disappeared after being destroyed by storms. As land loss has worsened flooding, residents were chased up the bayou to Leeville, which rests just outside the south Lafourche levee system. But today even Leeville is disappearing as residents move inside the levee system and even further north.

Even in his lifetime, the land around Lafourche has changed dramatically, Curole said. The drive to Grand Isle is unrecognizable as the same trip he used to make as a kid, he said.

“It brings to mind the fact of life that nothing lasts forever,” Curole said. “But it is a true sadness to lose your community before you die.”

Staff Writer Nikki Buskey can be reached at 448-7636 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.

<p>For decades, south Louisiana residents have watched coastal landmarks disappear as erosion worsened and the Gulf of Mexico marched steadily inward. </p><p>Now federal officials are wiping the names of these vanished places off the map.</p><p>The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Coast Survey began remapping coastlines in south Louisiana in 2011 but have found many of the lakes, bays, bayous and passes that once existed no longer have the defining features to stay on the map.</p><p>“It shows the sheer travesty of the situation we're facing in coastal Louisiana,” said Lafourche Parish Administrator Archie Chaisson. “These places, their entire identity, are being wiped off the map.”</p><p>The office remapped coastlines in Plaquemines Parish and will remove 31 place names from the map, including Grand Bayou Carrion Crow, Fleur Pond and Yellow Cotton Bay. They will remain in historic archives but will no longer be used in current maps.</p><p>The remapping process will continue along the coast for the next few years.</p><p>Meredith Westington, chief geographer with NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, said she's never seen this level of change before in her eight years working in the office.</p><p>“In the course of changing the shoreline, we found a lot of place names that were no longer attached to any features,” she said.</p><p>In some cases, for example, they found that pieces of land that had once separated lakes or bays had disappeared, leaving them indistinguishable.</p><p>“It's pretty substantial,” she said. “This is 31 names, and there are more coming.”</p><p>The erosion causing this massive disappearing act is from subsidence, or the sinking of land, and salt water intrusion. When the Mississippi River was leveed in to prevent flooding, it also cut communities such as Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes off from the rich river sediment and fresh water that built and sustained land for decades.</p><p>Disappearing places aren't anything new to residents of lower Terrebonne and Lafourche, said Terrebonne Coastal Restoration Director Nic Matherne. But he's hopeful such a dramatic step could raise awareness of the problem of coastal erosion for residents elsewhere in Louisiana and around the country.</p><p>“A resident of Pointe-aux-Chenes or Dularge walks out of his house and is hit in the face with this issue every day because they see it. It's much harder for people who don't live in the bayou communities to understand the emergency we're facing,” he said.</p><p>And these areas that are gone now are likely not coming back. The state has drafted a 50-year, $50 billion master plan to address coastal restoration and protection that is aiming for no net loss of wetlands in the next 50 years. If the plan works, Louisiana would see more land gained than lost by 2042. But that goal spans the entire coast, and Terrebonne and Lafourche officials have been concerned about the lack of restoration options available locally in the plan. </p><p>The state has stressed that hard choices are necessary to save the coast, and there's not enough time or money to save everyone.</p><p>Terrebonne and Lafourche face the highest rates of erosion in the state but are also the farthest away from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers, and river diversions make up a large portion of the state's strategy to restore the coast.</p><p>Matherne said state officials have said it is difficult to develop restoration projects with long-term sustainability in Terrebonne and Lafourche, one of the necessary features a project must have to be included in the master plan.</p><p>Local officials are working on smaller projects to divert more river water into the area in hopes of reversing that viewpoint. One goal of the state master plan is to direct more Atchafalaya River flow into the area to help better nuture and sustain wetlands.</p><p>“We're building Morganza (the parish-wide levee system), but that is not a system of last resort. We want and we need an estuary,” Matherne said.</p><p>Windell Curole, executive director of the South Lafourche Levee District, whose family has lived for generations on Bayou Lafourche, said erosion will claim more than water bodies if unchecked. </p><p>Entire communities in south Lafourche, such as Cheniere Caminada, have disappeared after being destroyed by storms. As land loss has worsened flooding, residents were chased up the bayou to Leeville, which rests just outside the south Lafourche levee system. But today even Leeville is disappearing as residents move inside the levee system and even further north.</p><p>Even in his lifetime, the land around Lafourche has changed dramatically, Curole said. The drive to Grand Isle is unrecognizable as the same trip he used to make as a kid, he said.</p><p>“It brings to mind the fact of life that nothing lasts forever,” Curole said. “But it is a true sadness to lose your community before you die.”</p><p>Staff Writer Nikki Buskey can be reached at 448-7636 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.</p>